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Examples Of Trichotomy In The Aeneid

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Hidden beneath the plot of The Aeneid lies a complex question about the trichotomy between fate, free-will, and divine intervention. An example of this tension can be found in book two lines 241-270. This passage of text shows the death of Laocoön and his kin through the intervention of a goddess. Here Virgil shows the integration of this trichotomy. Aeneas’s world is bound by a predetermined fate, and although the characters seem to have free will, fate will be fulfilled, despite how hard they try. In this passage, Virgel shows this trichotomy of fate, free will, and the gods involvement by the intervention of Athena when the fate of Troy is threatened by Laocoön’s free-willed voice. The most important part of the trichotomy is fate and

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